Hong Jang-won, the former first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, testified in the National Assembly that during the declaration of martial law, President Yoon Suk-yeol called him and instructed, “Clear them all out.” However, President Yoon did not specify whom he wanted to be arrested, leading Hong to initially think it was a spy case.
During a parliamentary investigation, Hong explained the phone conversation he had with President Yoon on the day martial law was declared. According to him, prior to the declaration, President Yoon instructed over the phone to “wait as there will be important things to convey in one or two hours.” While in the National Intelligence Service office, Hong learned about the martial law from the TV, and within 30 minutes of the announcement, he received another call from President Yoon.
Hong stated that President Yoon asked if he had confirmed the martial law announcement and instructed him in a strong tone to “arrest all and clear everything.” Although there was no specific object in President Yoon’s directive, Hong assumed it was this urgent support request to the National Intelligence Service due to an uncovered long-term spy case within the country.
Later, through a conversation with Yeon In-hyung, the former head of the Defense Security Support Command, Hong learned that the directive was to arrest politicians. There were differing testimonies about whether Hong reported the order to arrest politicians to National Intelligence Service Director Cho Tae-yong. Hong claimed he did not explicitly report that “the President ordered the arrest of politicians” but provided related context. In contrast, Director Cho asserted that such a report was not made to him, stating he would stake his honor on confirming that fact.